Champions League referees should be harder with gamers who exaggerate contact attempting to get an opponent proven a yellow card, UEFA mentioned Friday.
UEFA needs to punish makes an attempt to “dupe” referees with “acts of simulation or by over-reacting to light-contact fouls” when European membership competitors teams begin subsequent week. “It represents unfair conduct by players against their colleagues — a bad example of disrespectful behavior,” UEFA chief refereeing officer Roberto Rosetti mentioned in a press release. Match officers had been urged to be sensible and present “fingertip feeling” when dealing with worldwide video games in Europe this season. “It’s crucial for the referees to be able to read the game and understand the spirit of play in these situations,” mentioned Rosetti, an Italian who refereed the 2008 European Championship ultimate and video games on the World Cup in 2006 and 2010.
UEFA additionally needs referees to crack down on gamers mobbing match officers to affect choices and mass confrontations involving gamers and coaches. “We are determined to protect the image of football,” Rosetti mentioned, “and we consider certain types of behavior on the field and on the benches to be unacceptable. ”UEFA briefed its worldwide match officers forward of a season that may embrace national-team video games within the Nations League this month and Euro 2024 qualifying video games subsequent yr.
“We want our officials to stay humble, keep their feet on the ground, work hard, be disciplined, focus on targets, and be strong and respectful,” Rosetti mentioned.
In Champions League video games, referees will now be helped by Semi-Automated Offside Technology which judges tight calls utilizing a number of cameras that monitor gamers’ limbs. The system can even be utilized by FIFA on the World Cup in Qatar this yr.